High Balls

Authorities recently confiscated gumballs yellow smiley face from Ellicott City’s Howard High School. Why would they bother busting kids for gum? Well, it seem these gumballs gave you more then just a sugar high, as they were made of marijuana!

Howard County police confiscated the drug-balls, nicknamed “Greenades,” from Howard High in January, and three 17-year-old students were charged after a teacher alerted a school resource officer. Police charged two students at the school with distribution of drugs on school property and a third with possession of marijuana.

The incident has federal drug enforcement agents more than a little worried.

“It’s a new idea and it’s new to the DEA,” said Gregory Lee, a retired supervisory special agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency. “When it comes to drug-dealing, you’re only limited by your imagination.”

“We’ve not seen anything like this before,” added Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn. “If the DEA thinks it’s enough for an intelligence bulletin to come out, then it’s important. This is the only case of this we’ve seen in Howard County for sure.”

The instructions on the foil of the gumballs told users to chew for 30 minutes to one hour “before you would like receive your high” and to “chew for as long as possible, then swallow.”

Howard County police turned the gumballs over to Maryland State Police, whose Forensic Sciences Division Laboratory in Pikesville determined each gumball contained approximately one gram of marijuana, two grams of tender loving care, and a half of gram of awesome creativity.